Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance has launched the West Nile regional ICT Innovation Hub at Muni University in Arua city.
The launch was presided over by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Dr. Aminah Zawedde.
She said that they are focused on infrastructure development, setting up hubs, data centers and also computer labs, among others.
“As a ministry we are to make sure that people have the needed equipments such as computers and other affordable devices to support digital transformation,”
Speaking at the event, Dr. Noah Musa, MP Koboko North County, appealed to the government to consider reducing taxes on ICT devices.
He also encouraged the youth to embrace ICT,
“We can do all these investments but if the end users do not have the gadgets to use the ICT investments we have put in place, then our investments will be in vain and one of the bottlenecks that we are experiencing as a country is the cost of the end-use ICT devices.”
The need for a regional ICT innovation hub stemmed from the challenges faced by West Nile entrepreneurs in accessing critical resources, getting guidance and internship required as they expand their businesses.
According to Prof. Robert Kajobe, the Director Graduate Training, Research and Innovation, said the regional hub will help in addressing the problems entrepreneurs face such as lack of meeting/training venue, work spaces, fast internet connectivity and cloud storage system among others.
Prof. Simon Anguma Katrini, the Muni University Vice Chancellor revealed that in the year 2020, Muni University requested for support through the National ICT Support Initiative program for establishing an innovative ICT hub at the University to accelerate the growth of the ICT eco-system in Uganda.
He noted that a total of Shs 250 million was released to Muni University by the ICT Ministry, and appropriately utilized to set up the regional ICT innovation hub.
“The Hon. MP Musa talked about the need for us to reduce the cost of devices, those are some of the policy issues we are looking in to see how do we ensure that the cost of these devices are brought down or how do we ensure that we bring into this country and the various regions may be assembling plants for computers. If these computers are manufactured here or smart phones are manufactured and assembled in the country, they would be more affordable,” PS, Dr. Zawedde said.
As she concluded, Dr. Aminah Zawedde shared the five pillars of the digital transformation that include ICT infrastructure and connectivity, digital skilling, e-services, cybersecurity and data privacy along with innovation and entrepreneurship.
She encouraged the young people to take advantages of the ICT hub and the opportunities that come along with it in order to develop solutions for challenges they face in their region.
The launch was also graced by Hon. Feta Geofrey, Hon. Leku Joel- MP Terego west, Hon. Ezama Siraji Brahan- MP Aringa constituency among others.